This Friday, at 10am (GMT), we will be launching a brand new Kickstarter for Traveller – and we are rather excited about this one!

The Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society was a magazine-format way, way back in the ‘Classic’ Traveller era of the early 80’s. Back then, you had the Journal, Adam and the Ants, and Big Hair (a childhood in a nutshell, there…). The Journal was a treasure trove of articles, introducing many of the concepts we take for granted in Traveller today.

Well, we want to bring the Journal back, albeit as a set of supplements rather than a time-limited magazine. To this end, we have been trawling through the Journals of yesteryear, selecting the best articles, and revising/re-writing them for the latest edition of the game. These will (initially) be compiled into three volumes which, for Kickstarter backers only, will arrive within their own deluxe slipcase.

We will also be drawing from the better fanzines of the time (having tracked down the original authors), as well as adding brand new, never before seen material to create the essential resource when exploring Charted Space!

The Journal of the Travellers Aid Society (JTAS) will be starting at three 128 page volumes, but stretch goals will unlock additional volumes at no extra cost to backers – we will simply extend the slipcase in size and add the additional books!

So, what will these new Journals contain?

Much of the work on the first three volumes has already been completed, and you will be able to download part of volume one from the Kickstarter page, so you can see the style we are going for with these books. Each is a treasure trove of information and game additions, including adventures, new ships, animals from across Charted Space, philosophical musings on the big empires, histories, different takes on familiar equipment and vehicles, brand new vehicles, characters to be met in starports, playable alien races, and much, much more…

Why are we doing this as a Kickstarter? Well, we enjoy talking about Traveller to Traveller fans which, for us, is enough to get everyone involved ion the first place! However, the greater truth is that we are sitting on tons and tons of Traveller source material… and these Journals are the perfect vehicle to get it to you.

Doing this project via Kickstarter will not only allow us to gauge your opinions and reactions as to the actual contents of the Journals and which articles should be selected for inclusion, but we can link your backing directly to the amount of content – in effect, the more popular this project becomes, the more volumes we will be able to put into the slipcase. We will be starting with three volumes and have already started compiling articles for a fourth. How many more will follow will be up to all of you!

There will truly be something for everyone in these books, from adventures that a referee can pull out at short notice when the Travellers jet off in an unexpected direction, to a wide range of new alien races that will be fully playable for those who want to try something a bit different.

Whether you are exploring your own universe or are deep within Charted Space, we are hoping that every page of these new Journals will trigger new ideas, adventures and deep space explorations at every turn!